Intro Log: HOLY F*^K THAT'S A F*&KI%G DRAGON

[hadrielmods]

Who: New arrivals and everyone else!
What: The intro log for October
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: October 10th-13th
Warnings: New faces, new greeting posts, and dragons. What's more to want?

If your first thought upon waking up on the cold, hard ground of Hadriel's very own Colosseum is 'maybe I partied too hard last night', one, Delight would love you and two, you're wrong. Or- maybe you did, but that's not why you're here. Instead, you wake up with the same clothes you were wearing when you were last home, but surrounded by very different people. So, make some friends! Might as well voice your confusion and concern and show the technologically unsavvy of you how to operate these fancy new phones, right? Just be sure not to trip over these odd bags of chips on your way to greet your fellow man.

Don't spend too much time out in the open, though. There are monsters about, and not quite the usual ones. This month, Hadriel is bringing in four dragons, each with their own unique abilities and raidboss-esque stamina. They'll be terrorizing the city until someone puts them down- maybe that someone is you! Maybe you should, uh, actually hide. They're hungry and territorial and mean and they're definitely out for a good meal. Check out our OOC post for more information, as well as who will be eventually killing the beasts!

But hey, once you escape from the dragons, feel free to go explore the rest of the city! Find a house, find a new monster, or simply scavenge for supplies.

New, as of October's intro log is a Newcomer's guide that installs itself by default on every activated phone. Thanks, Mello!

Good luck, and enjoy your stay in Hadriel!

► This log covers October 10th-13th.
► Feel free to make your own logs as well!
► All characters arrive with phones that have network communication and the newbie guide installed.
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!

Comments

[face_kick]

[The dragon is huge, spitting fire and destruction over everything like something out of a fantasy manga, and she has the fleeting thought that maybe it's a good thing Inoue isn't here--princesses and dragons and all that. Rukia draws her zanpakutou and in a smooth motion turns the hilt up, murmuring as she does so the release command.]

Dance, Sode no Shirayuki.

[The white ribbon appears smoothly, almost seeming to form out of ice crystals, continuing in the same curve of motion before floating gently down. Cold almost seems to radiate from the blade now.

She nods at Souji's question and then flash steps into the air a second or two behind Ishida, planning strategy. Fire vs ice is a match-up that would look strange and unwinnable to some people, but elemental zanpakutou quite often defy expectations in that regard. She just has to get things cold enough so the other's weapons can do their work, and she's sure she can do it. She has to.]

First Dance, Tsukishiro!

[A white blade, swung in an arc toward the dragon, and a moment later ice follows in a column from a circle on the ground and upwards. However, wherever it meets the dragon, the ice melts almost as soon as it appears, some of the water flashing to steam on the molten hot scales, some falling uselessly like rain. Definitely needs to be colder.]

[liketeenspirit]

[Dryly:]

A cape would probably just catch fire anyway.

[He already lost one sword to the dragon's superheated scales and blood. (That was yesterday, when they didn't have a plan.) They're too far from the armory for another trip to be doable; Ichigo's not gonna screw this up by melting his second one like an idiot.

He ignores the twin voices in the back of his head: you shouldn't be here, one says, you should leave it to the people who are strong enough to handle it; if you had your powers, goes the other, you'd be up there with him.

(It doesn't strike Ichigo as odd that he can see a shimmer in the air where Ishida's bow should be. He's too distracted and too used to being able to see it for it to even register.)

He holds his ground, shifting his grip on his drawn sword, his feet twisting in the dirt as he winds himself up to jump in, but doesn't move yet.]

It's still too hot!

[truthvalue]

[The heat is a problem. There isn't much Souji can do until the dragon's heat is neutralized enough for their swords to make a difference; he feels a sharp twinge of regret flicker inside his ribcage, a silent wish that he still had his Personas - Kali, maybe, or Skadi, someone with a strong enough ice spell that would actually help their efforts.

... But he does have something at his disposal besides his sword. Souji hadn't mentioned it in the planning stages of this fight, but what will it hurt to try? He has no way of knowing if the dragon's armored scales will be vulnerable to this type of attack, but not knowing has never stopped him from trying out different types of attacks on a foe.]

I'm going to try something.

[Souji shoves the tip of his sword into the ground and steps forward, hands raised. He inhales a deep breath and concentrates on the building crackle of electricity between his fingertips, then flicks his hands forward and shoots twin arcs of lightning at the beast, aiming for the eye opposite of Ishida's.]

[repelling]

[ A cape would definitely have burned. But, it would have looked really cool before that, and maybe even while burning.

Even as the dragon swings its enormous head, the arrows curve, directed to meet their target. It screeches even as the ice rises, impacts, melts. The air fills with the hiss of it, thickening with the steam, a hellish, blinding sauna. No obliterating reiatsu to keep track by, but there's enough of its heaving, wretched presence, and Uryuu squints through the mist, unsure if his clothes are becoming soaked with the rain, with the steam, or with sweat from all that heat.

At least, as it's initially ineffective, the dragon attends more to him, rearing to bat or reduce to cinders the gnat that irritates his eye -- when lightning splits through the steam, crackling in the air, stabbing into that opposite eye. ]

What the--

[ Uryuu had been too far up to hear Seta-san announce it, but he whirls in the air, looking down, noticing him with his hands lifted. What was that?! would be a pointless question with an obvious answer. He can complain about withheld information later.

Instead: ] Nice, Seta-san!

[ Only, now: the dragon, its eyes dripping (and Uryuu looses another volley, to be certain of the job), hasn't stopped screaming, and now spits fire in wrathful arcs, above and below.

Go figure: he hadn't needed a cape for his clothes to burn. Just a sleeve, and he'll worry about putting it out after firing into the mouth. If only he'd had Seele Schneider -- they may have pierced the scales, or loosened them enough for piercing -- he has to settle for any spot of vulnerability.

And if the dragon really can't see, might as well be a vocal target. Uryuu starts yelling. The content is obvious and unimportant. He just wants its attention. ]

Kuchiki-san, Kurosaki's right! Can you make it colder?

[ Stupid sounding -- can she make ice colder? -- but still the question. ]

[face_kick]

[The first attack was something of a test--no need to expend more energy to make things colder if a first attack was going to work, after all. But she can absolutely get things even colder, one way or another. Ice isn't her specialty for nothing.

[And if not, maybe they can electrocute the thing. Apparently. She doesn't hear the warning but is well out of the way of the bolts of electricity suddenly coming from their previously melee-only corner. Isn't that interesting? Sticking with the original plan is probably the best for now though.]

Of course!

[A little more height then, while keeping track of Ishida and where Ichigo and Seta are on the ground, while she concentrates on doing just that. The temperature around her drops significantly as she gathers her reiatsu as ice, the wave forming at the tip of her blade. Aiming the bulk of the wave at the creature's head and neck, she swings down with a yell.]

[It's definitely more effective this time, the glow of the scales dulling, short-lived tendrils of frost creeping along the scales. Rukia doesn't rest there though, flash-stepping for another angle as the super pissed-off dragon swings its head towards her, letting out a blat of fire where she had been standing in the air.]

[She's already gathering another wave of ice, even colder than the last, to launch at the creature, catching a shoulder and wing this time. She follows the wave, diving to slash her blade (since even if it melts, it will always heal) along the scales already cooled by her attack. It doesn't cut deep, but where it does the frost stays, the scales around it dead and dull. Things are definitely cooling off.]

[liketeenspirit]

[Ichigo's only seen this in action once before, and he's got to admit, it's more impressive this time. Last time, they'd been in a cramped cave zapping gross little flan things, but taking out a dragon's eye? That's cool.

(He'd wondered why Seta hadn't told the others about it, when they had their hurried plan-of-attack huddle, but Ichigo figured Seta must have had a reason, and it wasn't his place to out anybody's paranormal powers. So, he'd kept his mouth shut. Rukia and Ishida can yell at him about it later.)

What's also cool is freezing a dragon wing, and even shooting arrows while your clothes are on fire. There's a twinge of envy, but...there's pride, too.

All of his friends are really, really badass, and he's glad he's fighting with them.]

All right, my turn.

[Ichigo's feet push off against the ground. For all his lack of powers, he still moves fast. One wing is moving sluggishly, half-frozen, dragging the dragon close to the ground; Ichigo dives in under that one. The proximity to both extreme heat and extreme cold is a weird feeling, but Rukia's close enough that the air, while nearly saturated with water, is breathable.

He drives the sword upward, deep into the dragon's wing joint, as far as it will go, and brings it down and forward, cutting skin and tendon and muscle.

...and then he books it out of there as the dragon starts to thrash and flail, trying to crush whatever had hurt it.

Shit, shit, shit!

Thank god he's fast. The dragon clips him with the edge of a wing, sending him into a skid, but a second later, he's out of range and climbing back to his feet.]

[truthvalue]

[There are reasons upon reasons not to mention the demonic power - primarily, because it is a reminder of the evil things he did as the demon he became while Traveling, and secondarily, because he knows how difficult it is for people to believe in something so fantastical. That was a lesson he learned well with his uncle, the night Nanako was kidnapped and taken to the TV World. Ichigo's seen him use it before, but the other two he knows much less well and thus cannot predict their reactions. They seem more or less unsurprised by it, though, and it does seem to be doing the intended trick of taking the edge off the dragon's attacks, so Souji steps carefully around to follow the dragon's movement, gathers his focus, and shoots another attack of electricity at the dragon's eye.]

[repelling]

[ As a rule, Uryuu does not find Shinigami attacks impressive.

As a rule.

Therefore, he is not admiring Kuchiki-san's form, or her easy grace, or the sweep of that ice, that blade -- or not Kuchiki-san the Shinigami. He looks, with as much attention and acclaim as he can spare while patting the flames out of his sleeve, with a slight smirk curving into place. The steam continues to hiss, to thicken. The dragon continues to yell.

Experimentally, he fires for that abused wing, and the arrow sticks, digs, just pierces.

When Kurosaki moves, he tries to keep an eye on him, while remaining mobile, while largely, still, focusing his attention on mouth and eyes. He cannot see well through the steam, and feeling him isn't enough to be sure he's not in imminent risk of a bisecting claw, in the path of incineration. He can just see as he moves, swift, knowing how to use that sword, just see as he skids, maybe wing bruised but otherwise fine.

Lightning, or electricity follows. With an injured wing and largely blinded, the dragon's fury fuels it. Its mouth has plenty of fire, the ice hasn't chilled it, and it spews liquid flames in fast arcs -- along the ground, through the air, knowing it isn't just the nuisance, that the electricity comes from elsewhere, it isn't stupid, this beast. Uryuu flies close, sweating thickly, firing without pause, an unceasing barrage, hoping to keep the flames, the direction of its mouth, largely at him, and then hoping to be faster than it. His glasses slide down his nose and he elbows at them. ]

I'm right here! How unfortunate for you that you're so slow, dragon-chan!

[ Yeah, mock the dragon that doesn't give a crap, can't even understand. Maybe it can understand tone. ]

[face_kick]

[She certainly intends to speak with Seta-san more fully after this, but for now she's just grateful that the people she fights alongside keep surprising her. Even though Ichigo may not have any of his powers, she's still impressed with the sort of thing he can still pull off. Like that wing for example.

Normally she would help to pester the dragon with by interspersing some kidou attacks, but just keeping her blade cold enough to effect the beast is taking much of her reiatsu to manage. Still, Ishida's ploy is clear, and she means to take advantage of it.

She has to be certain not to hit any of her allies though. Ichigo is certainly harder to track than he used to be by his reiatsu, but she does make note of him getting out of the way, notes where Seta is. The split second of distraction while the dragon is flailing around and going after annoyances means she dodges the tail a half second too late and it clips her shoulder, sending her back into a spin. Recovering quickly, she uses the spin to lend extra rotation to her next wave of ice, most of it landing along the dragon's back, a few crystals spinning off into air from a flailing limb.

Once that's fired off, she rotates her arm experimentally. It hurts, and will be one hell of a bruise tomorrow (assuming they survive this), but she's fine. She sets her grip again. The air around her cools another few degrees, and she readies the next attack.]

[liketeenspirit]

[The dragonfire's largely directed at Ishida (who's clearly drawing it toward himself, in a tactic that's both incredibly dangerous and unbelievably flashy) but that doesn't mean none of it hits the ground. A stray blast cuts a swath of molten destruction across the city street, and Ichigo's caught on the wrong side of it. He avoids the blast, but for the moment, at least, there's a wall of steel-melting fire between him and the dragon, cutting him off from both it and Seta. It would have been the easiest thing in the world to overcome two years ago, but right now, it stymies him, and Ichigo grinds his teeth in frustration.

The flames are going down, but it's happening too damn slow, and Rukia's got more important things to do than to clear him a path to the dragon. Ichigo takes off at a run--it won't take him long to get around the flames, or at least get to somewhere they're low enough to get over or cool enough to push through, but he's not doing any damage this round.]

cw description of breaking bone

[truthvalue]

[... This is not exactly bad, but it isn't good, either. Souji is used to keeping an eye on a group of fighters so he can call out directions to them, and it doesn't escape his notice that Rukia's been hit. Then the dragon levels a blast of flame that isolates him from the rest of the party, and Souji rushes to the side to avoid it.

Splitting your party is always a bad idea. Souji knows it's risky to rush forward as he does, but the demonic power over electricity seems to be making an impact. If the dragon can't see, it can't target the others; once again, Souji calls forth the charge of lightning and aims it for the dragon's eye.

What he doesn't count on is the fact that the dragon has had enough of that. It lunges forward, batting a heavy wing at Souji, and he tries to move out of the way, but he just isn't quick enough. Either the wing itself lands a blow or the force of the impact is strong enough to move Souji involuntarily - he doesn't have time to process the exact catalyst, only recognizes almost after the fact that he is sailing through the air with the ground rapidly rushing back up at him. As he falls, he tries to straighten himself out to land on his feet, and as he lands, a sharp pain in his right leg splinters out from what can only signify a break in his bone. Souji has never broken a bone before, but he knows, instinctively, that this is what it is, just as he knows he can no longer stand on it, and thus can no longer be of use in this fight. Expression twisted up in pain from where he has landed on the ground, Souji's hands both reach for the broken leg, as if he can hold the bone in place.

Now this is bad.]